Warm Ice Melting Armour
by Irrevocable SaaSha
Summary: Gray X Erza Drabbles/One-shots.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note : **I am sooo in love with this pairing. Long rant ahead, cause I really have no one to discuss GrayZa with T_T. And I forgot to put in a author's Note for my other GrayZa fic, which I promise I'll be updating as soon as I can.

Sigh. . . If only Mashima was as in love with GrayZa as I am. Gray & Erza could be soooo terrific together. . . . Why can't he see it ?$*$%! Frankly, I'm quite disappointed with the Gray X Erza bits in the Manga.

He gave the pairing such an awesome beginning and then woo*&^%$sh!, he just completely **ignores** it all. It's not even a slow fade-away of feelings. Instead, it's like Gray's powerful fixation on Erza as a child, simply does not exist anymore. I feel like the author is deliberately ignoring the connection between the two and forcing them onto a platonic footing, especially on Gray's side.

Probably because he's completely charmed by GerZa & GrUvia, which are also pairings I like very much, but but T_T. . .

Sigh. . .Erza's feelings for Gerard can't really be ignored & Juvia is just so absolutely adorable with her affectionate antics in her love of Gray-sama. . . .but but T_T. . . .GrayZa33!

There **were** strong romantic connotations to Gray & Erza's interaction as children.

Cana's fortune directly implied that _**Erza**_was supposed to be lucky for _**Gray**_. Really, how does that work platonically? Erza didn't just walk into Gray's life alone. She walked into all of Fairy Tail and Natsu & everyone else's life as well. Why the _**stupid focus **_on Gray alone? And-and- that- that _**evil**__**suggestion**_ by a FT member that _**Gray was in love with her**_. Grrrrrrrr. The _**best part **_of it all is how _**Gray reacts to Erza and tears**_. _**Erza and Erza alone. **_

Gray has been shown to be uncomfortable with tears in general, but, it is _**only Erza's tears that make him blush so adorably, and clutch his heart so. No one else. How people can label this as merely platonic is beyond me!**_

That strong reaction of Grays is _**the**_ _**icing to my GrayZa Cake. . . . . .EXCEPT. . . **_Mashima refuses to make the whole cake for me. :P _**Why T_T?**_

And Erza. _**What **_does Gray mean to Erza? He _**has**_ to be a little special to her. After all, he was the first someone that Erza let slip in under her armour. He was the first one she opened up her scarred little heart to after the crazy stuff with Gerard. Cana tried to talk to her and couldn't. But Gray could. Granted his approach was rather forceful lol! But whatever! He got her to notice him. And its just extremely endearing how she feels secure leaning on him for comfort and tears up so easily in front of him. Shouldn't all of that amount to **something**?

Like I said, GrayZa does very much exist in the Manga. Mashima just seems to be totally ignoring its existing potential and experimenting with every other pairing under the sun :P:P:P. Romance doesn't seem to be much of a subplot in FT yet. And its a real pity GrayZa has such a small fandom.

Argh, I really doubt it, but I hope he'll at the very least address Gray's feelings for Erza, before moving on to GrUvia & GerZa or whatever. Most likely, I'm afraid Mashima will pretend that Gray never felt anything of that magnitude for Erza at all. Which obviously isn't true, but I'm afraid he doesn't care about Gray's feelings too much.

As much as I love Juvia, I _**cannot believably**_ see her measuring up to Erza in _**Gray's eyes**_. How will she become more important to Gray than Erza is right now? How Mashima?

If I didn't so strongly believe Gray was head over heels for Erza, I'd be completely enamoured with GrUvia. But as it stands now, Gray's feelings for Erza are important to me. I hope they mean something to Mashima too * glare *.

Lol, it's really all Mashima's call, though. He'll do what he wants to do. So I've decided I won't be _**too**_ bothered by what happens in the Manga.

**I love GrayZa, Regardless**. I only wish there was a more vocal GrayZa fandom. Where are the fan clubs for it T_T? I want to spazz over this pairing & all their moments, even the silly irrelevant one's, soooo bad!

If only someone would start a fan club for it! Anyone know of one? I just want somewhere we can discuss GrayZa and Only GrayZa! Anywhere? Isn't there anyone out there that likes GrayZa as much as I do T_T ? If someone wants to make one, I'd be willing to help outJ. I just don't know how to start the process!

Right! Sorry, I've said too much. End of long ramblings now XD. I just had to let loose my inner GrayZa fangirl somewhere.!

Onto Drabble.

**Series : **Fairy Tail

**Pairing : **Gray X Erza

**Prompt 1 : **'Intoxicated'

_She was curled up on the couch like a cat in front of the fireplace, the firelight reflected like liquid honey in her golden brown eyes, red hair spread out around her, like she was lying on a bed of scarlet fire. She was beautiful._

_Was that really him, waxing poetry like a lovesick fool? _

_Clearly, he was drunk. They were all rather drunk, actually. He was inelegantly sprawled out on the couch across from hers, an arm thrown casually over his head._

_Natsu, Lucy and Happy were passed out on the carpeted floor between them like one happy family. Cute. Wait, did he just think anything about Natsu was 'cute'? He must be really drunk to have thought that. _

_His wandering eyes strayed back to her again, like they always did, greedily drinking in every captivating detail of her. She was . . . ._

_He tensely ran a nervous hand through his hair. They were alone now. He and Erza. Erza and he. The only ones still conscious. _

_And he was drunk. Clearly. Intoxicated. By her. Or the alcohol. He couldn't tell._

_He wished that she would just fall asleep, so he could stop stressing about her. The alcohol was making him think strange things. If she'd been asleep, then he could atleast carry her to the bed, where she'd be more comfortable. _

_He didn't care that she already looked comfortable lying on the couch. He just needed an excuse to touch her. Hold her like he'd never be able to, if they were both sober and awake._

_Erza wasn't the kind of woman who ever needed a man to do the carrying. _

_She didn't need protecting. Way too strong. And intimidating. She freaking scared the pants off of him sometimes._

_She didn't engage in flirting. Way too practical. Or maybe she didn't know how to flirt. Though, sometimes he wondered. She did pretty well at that waitressing job they took to pay Lucy's rent. _

_Then again, maybe not. If anything, naïve and sensible Erza was just zealously going about her job with military precision. _

_A shadow of a smile crossed his face. _

_She was a walking sensual weapon. And she didn't know it. _

_A spark of unbidden desire flashed in his eyes as he gazed at her with unadulterated longing. _

_Erza was blissfully unaware of her sexuality. And he found that unbearably sexy. _

_She was probably completely unaware he was sitting across from her, staring at her like a besotted fool. _

"Gray"

_He started at the sudden intrusion, private thoughts dissolving guiltily at the sound of her voice. Soft. Throaty. Hoarse from sleep. Or a result of his alcohol induced fantasies. _

"What?" _he huskily responded, afraid she'd detect the strong strain of desire mingled in his tone_.

_Liquid honey brown eyes, the color of the brandy he'd gulped down hours before, now stared directly into his own dark repressed eyes. _

"You've been staring at me," _She stated, innocent curiosity in her soft, unmistakably husky voice, it was husky from sleep, not anything else, he told himself firmly, _"Why?"

_Damn. She really could be extremely annoying at times. _

_He'd have to lie his way out of this one. It'd be way too awkward to tell her the truth. If only he had the same effect on her. _

_Cue imagination overdrive, heights of foolish optimism and everything that most assuredly belongs in the realm of impossibility. _

"_Erza, I was just thinking how irresistibly sexy I find your innocence." _

_Blushing prettily to the roots of her scarlet hair, and gazing at him with stars of utter adoration in her eyes, 'You-you do? Oh, Gray, I'm so touched. That's it! This is the last straw. I-I've made up my mind! "_

"_Gray! You're impossible to resist! I have decided to offer you my innocence."_

" _You-you have? Erza!" Sheer passion and hope shining brightly in his eyes, _

"_I'd be honoured if you would be the one to take my . ."_

"_YES! In fact, lets begin already" He was already dragging her by the hand in search of the nearest bed._

" …_hand in marriage? "_

_Before stars of utter adoration turned to murderous rage, Gray hastily took a detour to the nearest church and pretended marriage to her was what he had in mind all along. Taking her innocence could wait till later. Besides, marriage to her didn't sound too bad._

" Gray, you awake? You haven't answered my question yet?." _She stubbornly persisted, jolting him out of his stupid, sappy, beyond lame fantasy. _

_Right. He hoped the alcohol had left him with some measure of control over his tongue, if not over the sappy sentimental crap clouding his head. _

"I'm sitting right across from you, Erza," _he defensively shot back. _"Where else would I look?"

"Oh" _She quirked her lips slightly at the corners, a trace of wistfulness in her almost smile. _"Not because I'm so beautiful you can't keep your eyes off me?" _She gently teased._

_Was he imagining things because of the alcohol again? She almost sounded a little disappointed to him. _

_He kneaded his forehead with his fingers. It must be the alcohol. There's no way Erza would care if Gray found her beautiful or not. Right? _

"If it makes you feel better, I do think you're the most interesting thing in the room at the moment" _he casually gave in. _

_She'd never need to know just 'how' interesting' she was to him. She never took any of his 'casual' comments seriously anyway._

_And surely enough, she chuckled lightly in response to his flirty comment. It never seemed to occur to her that he meant every word he said to her. _

_She was the only one he never played around with. And she never took him seriously. Irony was a damn pain in the ass. _

_Whatever. Atleast he'd made her laugh. He liked the sound of her laughter. _

" I see . . I guess that's the best I can expect from you. Its not an improvement over 'beautiful' by any means, but you've never been all that smooth to begin with, except when you're using your ice magic. I'll take what I can get." _She smiled delightedly over at him, a fond look in her warm gaze, eyes looking like molten honey in the firelight. _

_There was a painful warmth in his chest at the expression of simple delight on her face. _

_If only she knew how many times he'd thought she was beautiful tonight, just merely curled up on the sofa with her curtain of red hair spread out like a halo of fire around her. _

"When you were staring intently at the fire, what were you thinking about? _he abruptly asked, to shake off heady images of red hair and trembling fingers gripping said hair with irrepressible desire. _

_And then immediately wished he hadn't asked. He already knew. The brightness in her eyes dimmed a little, to be replaced with an almost indecipherable look. _

"Gerard" _Voice soft and hesitant. Of course._

_Her softly uttered word felt like a bucket of icy water was dumped on him. _

_He felt a sharp stab of pain in his chest. _

_He didn't want to hear anymore, not when he was as intoxicated as he was. Gerard was an extremely sore topic for him. . ._

"And You."

_. .the last thing he wanted to do, was hurt her by saying things he shouldn't say. . Wait, did she say me?_

"Me?" _he unconsciously echoed. _

"You." _She reaffirmed._

"And Natsu. And Lucy. And Happy. And Fairy Tail." _She continued. _

_Of course, he thought a little bitterly, it was idiotic to hope he would be alone in her thoughts for once. He felt cheated._

" And you."

"You mentioned me once already" _he tightly pointed out. _

_She looked conflicted for a bit, then quietly said, _" I know. I mentioned you again."

_Crazily enough, what echoed childishly in his head was, 'She thought about me twice'. He didn't feel so cheated anymore. It was ridiculous, but he couldn't help feeling a little pleased._

" I . ." _She trailed off, then cleared her throat and began again "_I was mostly thinking about you and Gerard."

_Elation was rapidly replaced by uneasiness. What she said had unsettled him. He wasn't sure, if it was a good thing to be mentioned in the same breath as that bastard. _

_Typical Erza. She really had no idea what she was doing to him. _

_Except, something about Erza was off. She seemed almost nervous and uncertain._

_He clenched and unclenched his left fist in response, feeling far from calm himself. He didn't know if he was ready to have this conversation yet. _

_He knew how she felt about Gerard. It was painfully obvious. But he didn't want to hear Erza saying it. He wasn't prepared. _

_He didn't want to hear Erza comparing him with Gerard and falling short of the bastard in her eyes. It was enough to know. Especially not now, when he was drunk, and there was no leash on his emotions. _

_She didn't know it, but this thing with Gerard was hurting him too. Its why he kept his distance from her, and tried his damnest to interact normally with everyone and stay emotionally detached from her where Gerard was concerned. _

_He didn't want to burden her with his unrestrained feelings. She was in enough pain because of Gerard. It would hurt her to know of Gray's feelings, because he felt she didn't/couldn't return them. That she was causing Gray pain, would weigh heavily on her stupid fragile heart. She did care deeply about Gray after all. _

_He understood that about her. _

_He meant to give her the space she needed, to sort out her feelings without the added confusion, and stifling pressure knowing about his feelings would bring her. _

_And as much as he hated the bastard, if there was still a way for her to be with him, then he'd stand aside and let it happen. For Erza's sake. _

"And?" _he quietly prompted, when the silence dragged on uncomfortably. _

_Erza swallowed. Once. Twice. She opened her mouth slowly to speak, but ended up closing it without saying anything. She bit her lips unsurely, ran a tongue over to wet them, then tried again, to only end up with the same result again. _

_Watching her repeatedly lick and bite her lips in tension was extremely distracting, and slowly getting on his nerves. He'd started this conversation to shake off his sexual awareness of her and now, her irritating, nervous lip movement was bringing it all back again. He couldn't take it anymore._

"Just spit it out, Erza" _He snapped at her thickly . _

"S-Sorry" _She stuttered uncharacteristically. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat nervously and continued. _

" Gray . . . '' _Her voice slightly unsteady, an unmistakable trace of vulnerability in it. _

" Yeah? . . ." _He urged a little softly this time. The firelight, playing on her face made it difficult to read the emotion in her eyes. He knew they were trying to tell him something, but he couldn't discern what it was. _

" What do I mean to you?"

**Author's Note: **To be continued. . .J


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **Thank you soo much for the feedback everyone! It made me really happy. I promise I'll reply back to all my reviewers ASAP.

Don't worry, Prompt 1 is part of a two-shot. Sorry, I don't mean to be mean XD. I'm just not done with the 2nd part yet. It's about 40% done. I'll definitely put it up on my next upload.

All my writing so far has been from Gray's POV. Think its about time I went at it from a different angle. So this one's from Erza's point of view. I kinda really like this one. Let me know what you think please!333.

**Series : **Fairy Tail

**Pairing : **Gray X Erza

**Prompt 2 : **" Always. "

She envied him.

She'd never tell him, but his audacious tendency to strut around naked was infuriatingly appealing.

Not because he looked good while doing it, which he unfortunately did, but because it was such an outrageously unself-conscious and brave thing to do.

To strip himself of all defences, and walk around feeling so comfortable in nothing but his own skin. That, to her, was breathtakingly admirable.

Not that she wanted to be walking around half-naked or anything like that, but oh, what would she give to be even a little as unafraid of interacting with life as he was.

It was a startling contrast.

Him. And. Her.

Different. Yet. Similar.

He ran around wearing nothing to being minimally clothed. While she ran around excessively armoured.

Both very irritating quirks. Stark reminders of their complicated pasts.

A force of habit in each of their lives for their own compelling reasons.

He was so beautifully unrestrained, demons of his broken past effectively conquered, impudently skating through life, heart as warm and awkwardly inviting as the ice magic he wielded was cold and brutally liberating.

And she?

She was hopelessly caged by her emotional barriers, uncertainty and fear driving her to become as invincibly strong as she desperately hoped her fragile heart would become, forever encased in her arsenal of defensive armours.

No. Not forever.

Her barriers had started melting the minute foolish Gray decided to clash his will against hers, and impose his apparent superiority on her. And just like that, he'd hammered his way into her heart, unconsciously slipping under her strongly fortified armour, inevitably making the first real crack in it, with the force of his loaded question.

'If being around other people makes you uneasy, then why are you here crying on your own?'

He was broken like her, but he'd managed to piece himself together in a way that she longed to do. Refusing to let the chains of his past hold him back.

Guilt. It was a feeling they were both intensely familiar with. For their own reasons.

But Gray. He was strong. And brave. In a way, that she hadn't been. In a way, that she hoped she was now.

He hadn't let his guilt consume and restrict him. Instead, he'd channelled his guilt into living a more positive, rewarding life. For himself. And the people around him.

He hadn't let his scars cage his heart, and keep it from connecting with others like she had. Instead, he'd set it free, allowing it to heal and feel to its full potential, in the warm enveloping presence of hearts shrouded in pasts of their own. And he'd inadvertently held out his hand to her, willing her to take it.

It was no wonder she envied him so.

He was worth it. Worth Envying. Appreciating. Loving. He was worth all of it.

She was unbearably glad she'd met him. That he'd come into her life when he had. And in the manner that he had.

Her miserable, frozen, tightly armoured little heart had needed his impudent, naked, intrusively invulnerable warmth to come alive, and taste the wonderful freedom that was hers now.

A freedom that wasn't at all fleeting like Gerard had believed it to be.

Rob Ji-chan's musings had brought her to Fairy tail.

She'd been prepared to keep to herself and never discover the warmth of connecting with another heart again. Such a sad little fool she'd been.

It was Gray that had forcibly opened the gates of Fairy Tail to her, stubborn, persistent little pighead that he was.

She felt a little bad now, just a little, to think of the umpteenth number of times she'd beat him up, and taken out her frustrations on him, before he'd suddenly decided to never challenge her to fight him anymore.

She wondered if her tears had anything to do with it.

She doubted it was because he was simply afraid to mess with her. Fear of her beatings had never stopped him before, so why change his mind all of a sudden?

It seemed most plausible, that it was her crying that had changed his mind. Strangely enough, she hoped it was so.

It was quite unlike her to want for anyone to be affected by her show of weakness, but for some strange reason, Gray was an exception to that rule.

She hated to be weak in front of him or anyone, and yet, she found it so easy to tear up in front of him or lean on his strong firm shoulders for support.

She couldn't help, but feel a flutter of warmth in her chest, at the thought of an arrogant, prickly and rebellious Gray being affected by the sight of her tears and not having the heart to come at her seriously and hurt her. Not that he could, but it made her feel special and pleased her immensely to think of Gray embarrassedly trying to be considerate of her feelings.

She felt gratified to have someone like him in her life. Someone who was so in touch with his emotions and unafraid to do whatever he wanted, regardless of how intimidating she could be.

She loved him. There couldn't be any doubt to that. He made her feel like no one else did.

And Fairy Tail. His Home. Her Home. Their home. How she loved them all.

Because of him. and Natsu. and Master Makarov. and everyone in Fairy Tail.

She finally felt like she belonged.

The warmth of Fairy Tail would have been forever lost to her, if it hadn't been for him.

She was eternally grateful to him. For being such a relentlessly warm, nosy and prideful idiot.

She was too much of a coward to tell him directly, but the dominant emotion floating around irrepressibly in her head, from time to time, was . . . .

"Gray. Arigatou. I love you. Always."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note:

**Another drabble.! It's really short this time. And Angsty. T_T I don't think its very good, even though I thought it was great at first, meh.**

**Speaking of which, I'd really love it if you'd suggest some random prompts to help inspire more one-shots from me. I want to write more, but I don't think I could do it very well on my own. I'm too new at this writing stuff. Thankies! **

**Series : **Fairy Tail

**Pairing : **Gray X Erza

**Prompt 3 : **" Don't Fall in Love With Me"

_Her eyes. They said, ' Don't fall in love with me. I'll only bring you heartache.'_

_His eyes. Could she read them? If she could, then they'd tell her it was too late. And that he didn't give a damn. _

_If loving her meant heartache, then that's what he wanted. Well, she was what he wanted. But if he couldn't have all of her, then he'd take what he could get. _

_She didn't have to love him back. Because he'd never tell her. _

_She didn't have to make a choice. Because he'd never let her. _

_It was in his nature to be demanding. But for her, he'd go against his nature. _

_He'd never ask more of her than she was willing to give. _

_He didn't think she needed the confusion and added burden._

_Being by her side was enough. They didn't have to be lovers. If she didn't want them to be. Which she didn't. He was sure. Or so he'd convinced himself. _

_How could she, when it seemed like she'd already given her heart to someone else?_

_So he'd be her friend. Her companion. Her family. Her source of ire. Her shield. Her sounding box. The shoulder she needed to lean on. Remedy to her tears. Silent spectator. Active participant. Anything she'd let/ need/ want him to be. _

_He was hers to command. Always. Forever._

_As long as he was still important to her in some way, he'd deal. _

_She'll never need to know how special she was to him. Because he'd never tell her. _

_She won't miss him if she never knows she always had him. _

_Erza will never know what she means to Gray. _


End file.
